You may recall that John is the eccentric priest-turned-prophet who left the finery of temple priesthood to live in the wilderness, wear rough clothing, and eat off the land. His ministry, though brief, reverberated through a land primed for transition.
After centuries of weary anticipation people were looking for something to happen. They knew the long-promised Messiah would soon come. They hoped for a transition into a life that included spiritual purity and relief from the brutal Roman overlords.
So when word spread that John was preaching in the wilderness a message of transition people flocked from all over Judea to see and hear. “Repent!” he charged. “The kingdom of heaven is near.”
To signify transition into the kingdom John borrowed from Jewish cleansing rituals traditionally used to transition Gentiles into Judaism. He immersed the repentant in the waters of the Jordan River, thereby baptizing them into God’s kingdom. It was an initiation rite that clearly represented a once-for-all transition into the realm that knows no political, ethnic, social, or geographic boundaries.
Matthew tells of a transition Jesus made this day. He traveled about 70 miles from his home in Nazareth, where he had transitioned out of the carpenter’s shop, never to return. At his 30th birthday he approached John to be baptized into the next season of life where he would be prophet to Galilee.
“I need to be baptized by you,” John objected, “and you are coming to me?”
“We need to do this,” Jesus replied. “We must do everything God requires us to do.” So John baptized Jesus.
Jesus did not need baptism for repentance but to mark the transition he was taking and to witness to others he was obedient to God in pursuing his calling. The kingdom was accessed through the portal of baptism, and Jesus had to enter that portal himself, thereby saying goodbye to life in Nazareth as the carpenter’s son.
When Jesus came up out of the river Matthew writes that Jesus saw the heavens open and the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting upon him. He heard a voice from heaven, saying “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”
The Baptism of the Lord reminds us of our baptismal commitment, whereby we transitioned away from a former life defined by sin and separation from God. It helps us remember that we live in the covenantal community of the kingdom expressed by the Church. It takes us back to the time when we made promises, or our parents made promises for us, to transition into a new life of righteousness before God.
Specifically the transition we made include
- we renounce spiritual forces of wickedness, reject evil powers of the world, and repent of sin
- we accept the freedom and power God gives to resist evil, injustice, and oppression
- we confess Jesus Christ as Savior, put our whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as Lord
- we remain faithful members of Christ’s holy Church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world
Transition requires leaving what is known and moving into something new and uncertain. It means leaving something behind in order to take on something new.
The transition of baptism means we left behind a way of living and promised to live in community with others to embrace a new way of living that places Jesus Christ as the center and represents him to the world around us.
Here at Calera First we call that the embassy. We are assembled in covenantal discipleship to witness to Christ in the world around us.
Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (BCP)Matthew 3:13-17 (Baptism A)
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